Boston College Eagles
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The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams that represent Boston College, located in
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts Chestnut Hill is an affluent New England village located west of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Like all Massachusetts villages, Chestnut Hill is located within one or more incorporated municipal entities. It is located partia ...
. They compete as a member of the
National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
(NCAA) Division I level (
Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...
(FBS) sub-level for football), primarily competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).


Nickname and mascot history

The Eagle nickname and mascot for Boston College's teams were given by Rev. Edward McLaughlin. Fr. McLaughlin, incensed at a Boston newspaper cartoon depicting the champion BC track team as a cat licking clean a plate of its rivals, penned a passionate letter to the student newspaper, The Heights, in the newspaper's first year in 1920. "It is important that we adopt a mascot to preside at our pow-wows and triumphant feats," wrote Fr. McLaughlin. "And why not the Eagle, symbolic of majesty, power, and freedom?" The Boston College
mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...
is
Baldwin the Eagle Baldwin the Eagle, an anthropomorphized bald eagle, is the mascot of the Boston College Eagles. The nickname "Eagles" goes back to 1920 when Rev. Edward McLaughlin, unhappy at seeing a newspaper cartoon which represented Boston College as a cat af ...
, an American bald eagle whose name is a pun derived from the bald head of the eagle and the word "win." The
school colors School colors (also known as university colors or college colors) are the colors chosen by a school as part of its brand identity, used on building signage, web pages, branded apparel, and the uniforms of sports teams. They can promote connectio ...
are maroon and
gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
. The
fight song A fight song is a rousing short song associated with a sports team. The term is most common in the United States and Canada. In Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand these songs are called the team anthem, team song, or games song. First associated ...
, " For Boston", was composed by T.J. Hurley, Class of 1885, and is America's oldest
college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...
fight song.


Conferences and affiliations

The Eagles compete in
NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...
as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The women's
rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...
team competes in the
Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges The Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges (EAWRC) is a college athletic conference of eighteen women's college rowing crew teams. The conference is an affiliate of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC). Members :''See footnote''< ...
(EAWRC) as well as the ACC. The men's and women's
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...
teams compete in
Hockey East The Hockey East Association, also known as Hockey East, is a college ice hockey conference which operates entirely in New England. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. Hockey East came into existence in 1984 for ...
. Skiing and sailing are also non-ACC. Boston College is one of only 15
universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...
in the country offering NCAA Division I football (
Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...
), Division I men's and women's
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
, and Division I hockey. A founding member of the original
Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...
, the Eagles moved to the Atlantic Coast Conference on July 1, 2005. Up to that point, Boston College was the only Big East member affiliated with the Catholic Church that played football in the conference. As of 2018, all the football-playing members of the Big East's successor
American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...
are secular or Protestant institutions, while nine of the non-football replacement
Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...
's ten members are Catholic.


Move to the ACC

On July 1, 2005, Boston College moved from the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). In 2003 the ACC announced plans to expand from nine teams to twelve. Miami, Syracuse, and Boston College were rumored to be the three schools under consideration, and all three met with officials from the ACC regarding membership. It was later revealed that Miami had been dissatisfied with the Big East and its leadership since a formal letter of complaint was issued by them to Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese several years prior in 1999. Their issues went unresolved, leading to Miami's interest in the ACC—a league who had been pursuing the college football superpower since the mid-1990s, at the request of neighboring football schools Florida State, Clemson and Georgia Tech. Connecticut Attorney General
Richard Blumenthal Richard Blumenthal (; born February 13, 1946) is an American lawyer and politician who is the senior United States senator from Connecticut, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he is one of the wealthiest members of ...
, representing UConn (whose membership in Big East Football was then pending) led the "remaining" football schools (Virginia Tech, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia) in the filing of two lawsuits. One suit named the ACC, and the other named Miami and Boston College, accusing them of conspiring to weaken the Big East. Syracuse was not named as a defendant in part because they never made public comments about the ongoing situation. In an unexpected turn, due in large measure to political pressure applied by Governor Mark Warner of Virginia, the ACC replaced Syracuse with Virginia Tech in its expansion vote. Things became even more surprising when, reached by phone at a conference in Switzerland, then-N.C. State Chancellor Marye Anne Fox cast a shocking last-minute "no" vote against Boston College. As a result, the ACC extended invitations only to Miami and Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech immediately accepted the invitation and filed court papers to get themselves out of the awkward position of suing their new conference. The remaining four plaintiffs removed Boston College from the list of defendants and asked both BC and Syracuse to join their suit. Boston College and Syracuse declined. The Big East presidents and athletic directors met in summer 2003 to discuss replacing the departed members and establishing a process by which members would exit the conference in the future. The remaining members of the conference moved towards establishing a $5 million exit fee and 27-month waiting period for any other schools who wished to leave in the future. At a Big East meeting in Newark on October 1, conference presidents asked BC president Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., about rumors surrounding the Eagles' intentions. Fr. Leahy conceded that the Eagles might indeed be leaving the conference. It has been suggested that BC might have remained if the Big East had spun out its non-football schools and reconfigured as an eight- or nine-team league. The Big East considered extending invitations to Penn State and Notre Dame, however neither school showed interest in joining the conference. Several models for a new conference were discussed; however it was eventually decided that the football schools would explore separating from the basketball-only schools and establish an 8-team all-sports conference. It was very quickly realized that this scenario would not be feasible because the new conference would lose its automatic NCAA basketball tournament berth and possibly its BCS bid because the football schools had not been together long enough to satisfy certain NCAA rules. It was then decided that for the time being, the conference would add additional football and basketball schools and continue in its bifurcated structure until such time as the football schools could establish their own conference. Unhappy with this decision, the administration of Boston College once again entertained overtures from the Atlantic Coast Conference. Speculation that Chancellor Foxe, a Notre Dame trustee, cast her vote against BC so that the ACC might consider extending membership to Notre Dame was fueled by press accounts reporting that a bid to the Fighting Irish was imminent. But in October 2003, the ACC voted unanimously to invite Boston College to become their twelfth member. When BC accepted, they were returned to the lawsuit still pending against Miami by several Big East schools. In response, Boston College petitioned the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts for a declaratory judgment to avoid paying the increased Big East "exit fee" that had been voted for but not yet amended to the Big East's constitution. Boston College won both decisions, but the Big East appealed. A secret settlement reported to be worth US$5 million was reached in May 2005, and as part of the settlement the ACC agreed to play a number of football games each year against Big East teams. However, this large settlement was offset by the cumulative legal fees incurred by the Big East in pursuing the litigation. Boston College joined the ACC in 2005, and was exempted from having to play football against their former conference colleagues who had been party to the lawsuit. Boston College officials have stated that the university will not schedule games against any of their former Big East Football colleagues with the exception of Syracuse. An eight-year deal to play Syracuse in football starting in 2010 has been signed, and a four-year deal to play Providence College in basketball begins in the 2006–7 school year. Financially, the move to the ACC would appear to have been positive for the Eagles. Writing in the Charleston West Virginia Gazette, Mitch Vingle used the Big East's tax filings to examine payouts to full Big East members (schools playing both football and basketball schools) compared to payouts to ACC schools. ACC schools received an average of US$10.85 million for the tax year ending June 30, 2006, Big East full members averaged a little more than half what ACC programs took in at US$5,842,599. Additionally, Big East payments have dropped in each of the last three reporting periods.


Championships


NCAA team championships

Boston College has won 6 NCAA team national championships. *Men's (5) **
Ice Hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...
(5): 1949, 2001, 2008, 2010, 2012 *Women's (1) **
Lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...
(1): 2021 *see also: ** ACC NCAA team championships **
List of NCAA schools with the most NCAA Division I championships Listed below are the colleges or universities with the most NCAA Division I-sanctioned team championships, individual championships, and combined team and individual championships, as documented by information published on official NCAA websites. ...


Other team championships

Below are 22 national team titles that were not bestowed by the NCAA: *Men's (2): **Football (1): 1940 **Ice hockey (1), AAU: 1942 *Women's (11): **Sailing, Dinghy National Championship (3), ICSA: 2008, 2012, 2018, 2022 **Sailing, Singlehanded National Championship (8), ICSA: 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019 *Co-ed (9): **Sailing, Team Race National Championship (2), ICSA: 2008, 2009 **Sailing, Dinghy National Championship (2), ICSA: 2010, 2011 **Sailing, Men's Singlehanded National Championship (1), ICSA: 2016 **Sailing, Sloop National Championship (1) ICSA: 2009 **Sailing, Match Race National Championship (3) ICSA: 2010, 2017, 2018


Conference championships

Men's conference championships *Football (1): 2004 *Hockey (17): 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2017 - Tournament (13): 1965, 1978, 1987, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012 *Basketball (4): 1981, 1983, 2001, 2005 - Tournament (3): 1975, 1997, 2001 *Soccer (3): 1994, 2002, 2007 - Tournament (4): 1990, 2000, 2002, 2007 Women's conference championships *Hockey (1): 2014, 2016 - Tournament (1): 2011, 2016 *Basketball: Tournament (1): 2004 *Softball (3): 1997, 1998, 2003 *Soccer (1): 2009 *Field Hockey (2): 1998, 2003 - Tournament (3): 1994, 1997, 2003


Facilities

Principal athletic facilities include
Alumni Stadium Alumni Stadium is a football stadium located on the lower campus of Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, approximately west of downtown Boston. It is the home of the Boston College Eagles. Its present seating capacity is 44,500. Offic ...
(capacity: 44,500);
Conte Forum The Silvio O. Conte Forum, commonly known as Conte Forum, Kelley Rink (for ice hockey games), or simply Conte, is an 8,606-seat multi-purpose arena which opened in 1988 on the campus of Boston College in Chestnut Hill, near Boston, Massachusett ...
(8,606 for basketball), known as Kelley Rink for ice hockey (7,884); the Harrington Athletics Village, which includes Eddie Pellagrini Diamond (2,500) and the
Boston College Softball Field The Harrington Athletics Village is a sports complex located on the Brighton Campus at Boston College in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The complex currently consists of the Eddie Pellagrini Diamond, which is home to the Boston College ...
(1,000); the
Newton Campus Soccer Field The Newton Campus Soccer Field is the on-campus soccer and lacrosse stadium at Boston College in Newton, Massachusetts. The 1,800 person capacity stadium was built in 1999. The current tenants are the Boston College Eagles men's & women's socce ...
; and the Flynn Recreation Complex. The Yawkey Athletics Center opened in the spring of 2005, and the Newton Campus Field Hockey Complex was completed that fall. BC students compete in 31 varsity
sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...
, as well as a number of club and
intramural Intramural sports are recreational sports organized within a particular institution, usually an educational institution, or a set geographic region. The term, which is chiefly North American, derives from the Latin words ''intra muros'' meaning " ...
teams. Boston College's
athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...
program has been named to the College Sports Honor Roll as one of the nation's top 20 athletic programs by '' U.S. News & World Report'' (March 18, 2002).


Academics

Boston College athletes are among the most academically successful in the nation, according to the NCAA's
Academic Progress Rate The Academic Progress Rate (APR) is a measure introduced by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the nonprofit association that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, ...
(APR). In 2006 Boston College received Public Recognition Awards with 14 of its sports in the top 10 percent of the nation academically. The Eagles tied Notre Dame for the highest total of any Division I-A university. Other schools having 10 or more sports honored included
Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...
(12), Stanford (11), and
Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...
(11). Teams honored were football, men's fencing, men's outdoor track, men's skiing, women's rowing, women's cross country, women's fencing, women's field hockey, women's indoor track, women's outdoor track, women's skiing, women's swimming, women's soccer, women's tennis, and women's volleyball. Boston College's football program was one of only five Division I-A teams that were so honored. The other four were Auburn, Navy, Stanford, and Duke.


Director of Athletics


Footnotes


External links

* {{Authority control